Multibreak high voltage circuit breaker



April 18, 1939.

c. H. FLURSCHEIM 2,155,263

MULTIBREAK HIGH VOLTAGE CIRCUIT BREAKER Filed Jan. 11, 1938 E555 iii 1 iii l I 2 2 ll 3 L '3 6 4 4 5, MY

Fig.2. 2 Y T 55E BBB BBB 3 6 4 4' a s 5' l 4/ V Inventor: Cedric H. Fiurscheim, by 7/ is Attorn e y.

Patented Apr. 18, 1 939 UNITED sTA'rEs PATENT OFFICE or to Gull-a! Electric Company. a corporation of New York We January 11, 1930, Serial No. 184,478 In Great Britain January 22, 1937 BOIahna.

breaks is effected by a pair of co-acting contacts,

one or both of which is biased to the closed posi- 10 tion, and during breaking moved apart against the. bias by oil pressure in the contact chamber acting either directly in a longitudinal direction upon said contact or contacts, or acting upon a plunger or the equivalent operativelyconnected with said contact or contacts. 1

According to one form of the invention a circult breaker is constituted by a plurality of such pair of contacts all arranged electrically in series whilst a mechanically operated contact may be arranged in series either with a' single oil operated contact or with a series of oil operated contacts. It will be appreciated that the oil actuation of the contac advantages in that a very rapid initial break is obtained, and fur- 25 thermore, that in the case of extra high tension apparatus the problem 01 insulating the actuating gear is eliminated.

It is of course that the opposite faces of the oil operated contacts should be screened 30 from the contact chamber to enable a pressure difference on the oppodte faces of contact to be- Fig. 1 is an elevational sectimal vieweshowing 40 an arrangement in which the contach'are acmcomprises amechanically I 00- operating with'anoilactnatedcolrtactifiwhikt inseries with thecontacta 8. 8' area pair oi operated contactsl.'l"ond a'secondpair oi contacts I, I; It will beolnsrved that thecbntactsi', lareslidabiymolmted cult breaker in the desired manner.

Referring iirst to figure-1, the-rei'erencei indicates the contactchambenthedlwmn'ein thechamberduringbneakingbeingp'roducdby apistcn2suitablyoperated. 'niedrcnltlneaker end i'aces which are opposite to those exposed to the oil pressure slide into a chamber 1 which is in communication with the atmosphere. Similarly, the contacts 4' and i are interconnected by a lead 8 and slide into a chamber 9, whilst the end contact 5' is connected by a lead II) with the terminal II and its opposite end face is located in an air chamber l2. Suitable oil cross-jet pa ssages are located adjacent the breaks. All the oii'operated contacts are blasedto the position 10 shown by means of springs, as illustrated.

It will be appreciated that the piston 2 and the contact I are operated by a common actuating or control mechanism so that during breaking the oil pressure in'the contact chamber l is produced at the same time thatth'e mechanically operated contact 3 is moved to the left; thus the breaks will all be produced substantially at the same time. A simple mechanical arrangement for operatively interconnecting the piston 2 and the rod contact 3, illustrated merely by way of example, comprises a main operating shaft S to which is secured a bell crank C. The arms of the crank C are suitably connected, as through pin and slot connections, 2' and3", to the piston 2 and contact 3 respectively for operating the cir- The operating shaft 8' can obviously be rotated to open and close the breaker by any suitable motive 0 device.

In the alternative arrangement shown in Fig. 2 the oil operated contacts instead of being actuated by oil pressure acting directly upon them are connected through linkage with a piston l3, whichplston is displaced by the oil pressure $0 as to move the contacts apart during breaking.- Itwill be observed that the piston i3 is connected through a linkage H with-the contacts 3', 4' and i, and through a link I! with the contacts I and I. 40

4 In both arrangements'shown by Figs. 1 and 2, the exte'riorly operable contact 3 is independent of the liquid pressure operated contacts to form is maintained open at the isolating gap. Iclaim: 1. A high voltage circuit breaker oi the multiliquidtypecomprisingacasingcontainingf anarc I: andinsulatingliquid,rela-' arrangedtoiormaplwsaid at' -least 56 break liquid type comprising a casing containing an arc extinguishing and-insulating liquid. a plurality of pairs of contacts arranged to form a plurality of breaks'in series in said liquid, one pair of said contacts including operating means exteriorly of said casing for separatingsaid contacts, other pairs of said contacts being operable only in response to liquid pressure in said casing, and a piston operable exteriorly of said casing for creating pressure in said liquid substantially coincident with opening of said exteriorly operated contact whereby an isolating gap is formed in said liquid in series with a plurality of pressure created gaps.

3. A high voltage circuit breaker of the multibreak liquid blast'type comprising a casing containing an arc extinguishing and insulating liquid, a plurality of pairs of contacts immersed in said liquid and arranged to form therein a plurality of breaks in series, one of said contacts being operable exteriorly oi. said casing to form an isolating gap in said liquid, other pairs of said contacts being operable by liquid pressure in said casing to form a plurality of interrupting breaks in series with said isolating gap, means for resiliently biasing said liquid pressure operated contacts toward closed circuit positions, and a piston operable exteriorly of said ;casing for creating pressure in 'said liquid substantially coincident with the opening of said ei't'eriorly operated contact.

4. A high voltage circuit breaker oi the multibreak liquid blast type comprising a casing containing an arc extinguishing and insulating liquid, a plurality of pairs 01' contacts arranged to form a plurality of breaks in series in said liquid, at least one of said breaks being opposite a liquid i exhaust passage in said casing, one of said contacts being operable exteriorly of said casing to form an isolating gap in said liquid, other 0! said contacts being subject to prwsure in said liquid to form a plurality of interrupting breaks coincident with an arc extinguishing blast of liquid at said exhaust passage, means for biasing said pressure operated contacts toward closed circuit position, means communicating with atmosphere for stablishing a pressure diflerential at said pressure operated contacts, and a piston operable exteriorly of said casing for creating pressure in said liquid substantially coincident with opening or said exteriorly operated contact.

5. A high voltage circuit breaker of the multibreak liquid blast type comprising a casing containing an arc extinguishing and insulating liquid, a plurality oi!- pairs oi contacts arranged to i'crnn apluralitybreaksinserlesinsaidliquidoneot said contacts being operable exterior-1y of said casingtoiormanisolatinggapinsaidliquiia thecircuit, means controlled exterlorly of said casingior mechanically operating one 01' said contacts to form one of said breaks, means operableinresponsetoprasureinsaidliquidandso relatedto otherof'said contactstoi'orm series breaks in said liquid, and means for creating pressure in said liquid independently of the arc pressure, said pressm'e-creating means being operatively related to said 'exteriorly controlled 25 means for controlling in a predetermined manner the formation of the pressure created breaks and the mechanically i'ormed break, said mechanically formed break being suihcient to maintain the circuit open.

7. A high voltage circuit breaker of the multibreak type comprising'a casing containing an arc extinguishing and insulating liquid, relatively movable contacts arranged to form a plurality of breaks in series in said liquid, means controlled 5 exteriorly of said casing for mechanically operating oneofsaidcontactstoiormabreakinsaid circuit, means operable in response to pressure in said liquid and related to other 0t said contacts to iorm series breaks in said liquid,- means forming 40 pressure relief openings a jacent to said series breakaandmeansforcreatingprmureinsaid liquid independently of the arc pressure for causing separation of said pressure responsive contactsandablastotsaidliquidthrmigheachot saidopeningstoextinguishthearcsthereat,said pressure-creating means being related 'to said exterlorly controlled means for controlling'in a predetermined manner the opening of said pressure responsive contacts and said mechanicallyvso controlled cmtact. 8."Ahighvoltage circuitbreakerofthemultibreak type cunprlsing relatively movable contacts arrangedtotormaphrralityofbreaksinserles, means'iormechanimllyoperatlngat leutone of said contacts lndependentlyto form an isolating break, means responsive to fluid relatedtootherofsaidcontactstotmmatleast oneinterruptingbreaklnserleswithsaidholatingbmkapistonforcreatingsaidfluidprdsure, and means operatively relating said piston and mechanimloperatingmeansi'orcontrollingina predeterminedmannertheiormationofthepressurcreatedbreakandsaidisolatingbreak;

- CEDRIC HAROLDFLURBCHEIM. 

